GFW Impact results, review, & video (Aug. 10, 2017): On to Destination X

GFW Impact returned last night (Aug. 10) from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. You can find a run down of all the events here.

Go Home Show

This was in essence a go home show for GFW. Next week, their episode is a live show and their Destination X special. It’s pretty much a pay-per-view on TV. Much like go home shows nowadays, it didn’t do much to amp up extra excitement for next week.

Three of the feuds were represented in a 6-man tag team main event match between Alberto El Patron, Matt Sydal, & Sonjay Dutt and Low-Ki, Bobby Lashley, and Trevor Lee.

The GFW title feud between Patron and Low-Ki set for next week was only represented by this match and a video package recapping everything. It is the continuation of the Alberto/LAX feud, but the Low-Ki portion was pretty much set up completely last week. This is a match that may have benefitted from another segment, such as a contract signing, to build a little more hype for what could be a good match.

Trevor Lee and Sonjay Dutt’s X Division ladder match also just got the video package and this match.

It was Matt Sydal and Lashley who got more.

They aired a new segment called “Down and Dirty with Dutch (Mantell),” a backstage sit down interview between Lashley and Matt Sydal, who will have a #1 contenders match next week. Ridiculous name aside, this was a fun segment. Lashley is always good when he is delivering promos about how he’s better than everyone and his incredulous attitude to Sydal even thinking he can hang with him was great. It ended with them standing toe to toe when Lashley grabbed Matt’s throat and security intervened. It wasn’t much, but it helped outline the crux of the match next week (a match I’m much looking forward to).

The main event match itself was standard fare. Both Sydal and Dutt played face in peril for awhile, Lashley got to look dominant like he always does, and Patron was the big hot tag. In the end, Low-Ki hit Dutt with a Warrior’s Way for the win.

These matches could all be good next week. Unfortunately outside Sydal and Lashley, they didn’t get more extra hype this week.

Women’s Title

The show opened with Sienna performing a sit-in, insisting Karen Jarrett tell her who she’s facing next week at Destination X (a reasonable request). Karen came out, told Sienna she didn’t like her, and then introduced Gail Kim as her opponent for next week.

Gail said she planned to retire as GFW champion before she and Sienna started brawling, a melee the referees had a difficult time separating. It ended with Gail in the ring holding both titles.

This will probably be a fine match, though I have to wonder if they should have given Gail Kim’s first title match back on her retirement tour a bit more than a one week build. Perhaps this is a case where the match is the beginning of the story instead of the end.

What is going on here?

Kongo Kong defeated Grado and Joseph Park in a handicapped match. After the match, Kongo continued to attack Grado when Laurel Van Ness came out to stop him. She ended up slapping Kongo and he picked her up to slam her. This brought Tyrus out who stood toe to toe with Kong before Laurel grabbed Kongo and took him to the back.

I don’t know what’s going on here any more. The story is meant to be their dumb comedy angle, but tonight they really exposed the litany of issues it has. Josh Mathews really tried to paint Grado as a jerk for taking advantage of Laurel claiming he doesn’t love her but is only trying to marry her to stay in the country. And he’s not wrong at all. Jeremy Borash, who isn’t a heel announcer like Josh, pointed out that Laurel’s been through a lot. It really paints Grado as a really scumbag taking advantage a woman who’s in a bad place.

Then they do the bit where Kongo tries to slam the woman he apparently loves but treats like a possession and she leaves with him anyway, which screams abusive relationship.

They should cut bait and end this story as soon as they can.

All the Rest:

Tag Team Exhibition

Noamichi Marufuji and El Hijo de Fantasma defeated Laredo Kid and Garza Jr. in a fun exhibition tag team match. In a contest with tons of high flying action, it’s the spot where Garza stops the match to rip off his pants that pops me the most. These guys are a ton of fun. If they’re going to be working with Impact often, it’d be cool to get them small stories with regular roster members instead of a roulette of tag matches.

Tag Title Street Fight

LAX defeated the Veterans of War in a street fight. It was pretty much a 6 on 2 match and a sloppy one at times.

Super X Cup

Taiji Ishimori defeated ACH to go onto the finals to face Dezmond Xavier in the Super X Cup finals. This was a fun match.

---

Pros of the Show:

• Fun tag team exhibition match
• The sit down interview between Sydal and Lashley

Cons of the Show:

• The Grado/Laurel story has become all sorts of #problematic
• Many of the matches, including the GFW title, didn’t get any extra hype going into next week

Rather underwhelming for a go home show but that’s par for the course with shows from the latter portions of the taping.

Grade: C

Sound off below.